There may not be a football team at LCCVI this year, but that hasn’t stopped students from keeping their homecoming tradition alive.

Grade 12 student Leila Core, who is the Minister of Communications for Student Council, said despite concerns over the lack of a football team, they knew they could find another way to celebrate their school spirit.

“We knew we still wanted to have some sort of celebration,” she said. “It’s a really fun thing to do and it really brings the whole school together.”

She said homecoming is usually held earlier in the school year, when football season is just kicking off, but this year they’re celebrating a more Canadian sport.

Petrolia being a hockey town, Core said it was an easy transition to make.

“There’s a lot of people at this school who play hockey or who watch hockey, it’s a really big part of our school,” Core said. “We thought this would be a great opportunity to incorporate that into our homecoming.”

Core said LCCVI works to do something a little different every year for homecoming. Last year they made a lip dub video, and this year they’ll be marching a parade through the town before heading to the games at the Greenwood Rec Centre.

She said an important part of the day is making sure it’s inclusive, meaning even those people who don’t play sports can still have fun and show some school spirit.

“Every year we try to have a big event outside of the game,” she said. “I don’t play sports, but I love homecoming…so we try to have a big event that promotes school spirit.”

Once at the arena, Core said there will be events and the school band playing. They are also looking to include not just current LCCVI students, but the community as a whole. Core said she hopes people will take a step outside the cheer on their school, including elementary schools they will be passing by.

“It can involve the community as well…with the parade we’re going downtown, so it not only brings LCCVI’s community together, it involves everybody,” she said.

Core, who went to a high school in Owen Sound for grades nine and 10, said school spirit at LCCVI is on a whole other level. People dress up and with a number of local LCCVI grads, there’s a greater sense of pride not just within LCCVI’s walls, but within Petrolia and surrounding neighborhoods. Also, being a smaller school, Core said most people know each other and relationships are tight knit.

“This school has a long history, a lot of people who live here went to this school, my grandparents went to this school,” she said. “It has a lot of support from the community, people have a lot of powerful memories from when they went here.”